Corn is one of the key world food commodities, just behind rice. Severe weather events associated with climate change are forecast to increase in number and intensity. These are predicted to increase nutrient runoff and have the potential to decrease corn crop yields. This webinar will focus on climate predictions for the Midwest; research findings from the USDA grant “Climate change, mitigation, and adaptation in corn based cropping systems,” a $20 million grant focused on ensuring food stability; and impacts for Lake Erie.

The number of snowfall events in a given area has a large impact on road maintenance and water resources management. Snowfall data collected in the United States between 1930 and 2007 at seven locations shows how snowfall frequency has changed over time, and relates the information to a changing global climate. This webinar will:
- explore snowfall trends in the United States and the Great Lakes region
- introduce three regions that show significant change in snowfall frequency, including an increasing trend in the upper Midwest
- provide a sneak peek at a new web interface for exploring snowfall data, available through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the agency responsible for monitoring how the earth’s climate is changing, and how the United States is impacted by this change. Part of NOAA’s efforts include passing along that information to those being directly affected, such as community managers and the general public. This webinar will provide an overview of how interested stakeholders can obtain information from NOAA’s climate service offices.
Speakers will cover :
- how NOAA and partners monitor national and international climate
- regional and national climate information sources
- regional climate extremes monitoring

This webinar covers climate change impacts on wildlife, specifically focusing on bird species in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Climate change in the Great Lakes region and beyond is expected to promote shifts in the ranges and phenology of well-known plant and animal species. These shifts are often a result of changes in the availability of food and shelter, as well as temperature. Knowing more about these potential impacts will help wildlife managers and nature enthusiasts alike to adapt to and potentially mitigate some of the resulting changes in wildlife diversity.

This webinar covers:

- an overview of potential climate change impacts on wildlife
- effects of a changing climate on the phenology of migratory birds
- impacts of shifting climate conditions (such as drought and flooding) on the vulnerability of species of special concern
- climate change effects on Broad-tailed Hummingbirds as a result of shifts in the timing of flowering of their nectar flowers glacier lily, dwarf larkspur, and Indian paintbrush, which they rely on during spring migration

This webinar covers the potential for future algal blooms in Lake Erie’s western basin.

ABSTRACT:

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a global problem and have reemerged as a concern in Lake Erie during the last decade. While some have hypothesized HABs in Lake Erie will become more frequent and larger, there are few studies linking predicted climate and watershed models to examine this issue. This talk will describe the methods and results of an ongoing project that links climate models, watershed models and HABs models to predict the frequency and magnitude of HABs through 2099.
This webinar will describe:

Predicted climate for the Maumee Basin through 2099
How climate change is likely to affect river discharge and harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie
Modeling tools that can help people understand and manage the impacts of extreme weather events and climate change

This 2014 climate webinar provides information on how climate change knowledge moves through social networks.

ABSTRACT:

People learn about climate change from different places, from the events they attend to published works they read or author. And everyone, from climate scientists to the general public, receives and processes climate information differently. This presentation looks at the different ways in which climate information is relayed and how effective those pathways are.

Specifically this webinar will examine:

How climate knowledge changes as it moves through different networks of people
How the change depends on the nature of the social structure through which it moves
How roles people play in the transfer of information relate to where they are located in the social structure
How opportunities for interaction are structured by institutional forces like online forums and large sponsors such as NOAA and the National Science Foundation

Great Lakes fishery managers and stakeholders have little information regarding how climate change could affect the management of recreationally and commercially important fisheries, which have been valued at more than $7 billion annually. Our research has focused on how climate change could influence fish habitat (including water temperature, ice cover, and water levels), phytoplankton production, and ultimately fish production. Focusing on lakes Michigan and Huron, this webinar will provide information about whether we can detect climate signals in long-term data on fisheries and phytoplankton; preliminary climate (e.g., water temperature, ice cover) forecasts for 2043-2065; and how future climate could influence growth and consumption of key fish species, such as Chinook salmon, lake trout, yellow perch, and lake whitefish. Speaker: David Bunnell, US Geological Services Great Lakes Science Center

Climate Change and Harmful Algal Blooms in Lake Erie Webinar

Harmful algal blooms continue to be a problem for the Lake Erie ecosystem and lakeshore communities, and predicted climate change impacts like increased heavy precipitation and higher temperatures have the potential to worsen these problems in the future. Focusing on Lake Erie, this webinar will provide information about historical climate and potential future impacts of climate change in the Lake Erie basin; how climate change could impact Lake Erie nutrient levels that drive harmful algal blooms; the potential effects of reduced lake ice and higher temperatures on algal blooms’ length and size. Speakers: Dr. Rick Stumpf of NOAA and Molly Woloszyn of Midwestern Regional Climate Center

This webinar provides information about how Milwaukee’s is using both “green” and “grey” infrastructure approaches to become more resilient to changes in climate, increase energy efficiency, and maintain stellar regulatory compliance.

ABSTRACT:

Responding to severe storms that impacted the Milwaukee region in 2008, 2009 and 2010, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) approved a 2035 Vision that has helped them to make significant achievements in the area of climate preparedness and water sustainability. Our speaker will outline the steps that the MMSD is taking to meet the goals of their 2035 Vision. This webinar will provide information about how Milwaukee’s is using both “green” and “grey” infrastructure approaches to become more resilient to changes in climate, increase energy efficiency, and maintain stellar regulatory compliance and techniques Milwaukee has used to foster local leadership and collaboration in order to launch green infrastructure forward as they continue to build a strong economy. Speaker: Kevin Shafer of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

This 2013 climate webinar will provide discussion about organizing for stakeholder engagement; challenges in managing the climate adaptation dialog; and successes in advancing regional adaptation

ABSTRACT:

Stakeholder engagement is an essential element of climate adaptation. The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) has organized as a distributed network of stakeholder groups, bringing together regionally scaled climate projections with the resource managers most concerned about the impacts of climate change. Despite the management challenges of this organizational model, WICCI has had notable success in advancing climate change adaptation in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. This webinar will provide discussion about organizing for stakeholder engagement; challenges in managing the climate adaptation dialog; and successes in advancing regional adaptation. Speakers: Dan Vimont, David S. Liebl of University of Wisconsin

This 2013 climate webinar will provide information about dealing with uncertainty and challenges in communicating with diverse groups.

ABSTRACT:

Decision support is a collection of tools for the communication of issues underpinning the selection of actions or policies. Climate policy is a particularly challenging arena for decision support due to the complex connections between climate and human activities; numerous interest groups with competing interest; and uncertainties in both the future of climate and the impacts of actions. Strategies for treating the uncertainties, including dealing with uncertainty about our understanding of that uncertainty, are discussed. This webinar will provide information about dealing with uncertainty; and challenges in communicating with diverse groups. Speaker: Mark Berliner of Ohio State University

This webinar will provide information about climate change impacts on health in the United States; potential strategies for climate change adaptation in the public health sector; and possible opportunities to benefit health while addressing climate change

This climate webinar provides information about biogeochemistry, carbon cycling and invasive species in Lakes Superior and Michigan and prospects for acidification of the Great Lakes due to CO2 uptake from the atmosphere.

ABSTRACT:

The ecosystems of the Great Lakes are critical national resources, yet their large-scale functioning and interactions with climate change are poorly explained. How do physical drivers impact chemistry and ecology? How are invasive species reacting to physical change? How will the Great Lakes respond to increasing atmospheric CO2? Numerical models and data help us to answer these questions, and to identify future research priorities. This webinar will provide information about biogeochemistry, carbon cycling and invasive species in Lakes Superior and Michigan; impacts of physical change on carbon cycling and invasive species; and prospects for acidification of the Great Lakes due to CO2 uptake from the atmosphere
Speaker: Galen A. McKinley of University of Wisconsin

This 2013 climate webinar provides an overview of Ohio Sea Grant’s updated Great Lakes Climate Change Curriculum; integration of climate change education into classroom or informal education programming, an introduction to regionally relevant climate science, and other ways other educators have used these materials in the past. Speaker: Lyndsey Manzo of Ohio Sea Grant